2. * Use italics for books, journals, newspapers, albums, movies, TV series, etc. * COMPLETE, WHOLE works * Use “quotation marks” for chapter titles, article titles, songs, tv episode titles, etc. * PARTS of a larger work

3. * My favorite episode of How I Met your Mother is Slapsgiving. * When I was in 3 rd grade I had a choreographed dance to I Want You Back by NSYNC. * I stopped watching Planet of the Apes half way through because it made me too sad—almost as sad as the sad dog commercial with In the Arms of the Angels playing in the background

4. * We use apostrophes primarily to denote possession. * We do this by adding an ‘s EX: Peter’s dog * If the word ends in s, just add the ‘ EX: Chris’ dog EX: The parents’ baby * We also use apostrophes to indicate contractions EX: Don’t EX: it’s

5. * One of Lois sons is not very bright, but its ok because the other is a genius. * Ive heard that Brians book isnt well-written, but that makes sense since the author is a dog. * I hate the scenes where Peter fights the chicken because it goes on for so long. Plus its humor is in the slap-stick realm, which isnt my favorite.

6. * A compound sentence is one in which two full thoughts are combined using a, conjunction * Conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so” EX: The tie has ducks on it, and it is embarrassing. * However, a sentence where what comes after the conjunction isn’t a full thought DOES NOT need the comma. EX: The tie has ducks on it and is embarrassing.

7. * Ted is an architect who designs a massive skyscraper downtown New York yet he thinks that red cowboy boots are a viable fashion statement, which makes no sense. * The thing that frustrates me the most about Lily is that she is constantly calling off work but never has to write sub plans. Where does she teach and why doesn’t she get fired?

8. * Fragments are sentences that are missing part of them, usually a subject of a verb. Or it may start be missing the independent clause. EX: Cooking as fast as I could. EX: The judge with the shiny bald head. EX: But I was wrong. * Run-ons are sentences that contain two full thoughts, without using a semicolon, conjunction, or other connector EX: I hope Mai wins because she’s been consistently strong the others have varied a lot in their quality.

10. * Introductory phrases should be followed by a comma * Transitional phrases EX: On the other hand, Howard may go to space again. * Prepositional phrases EX: In the first season, Penny’s character is far less of a caricature. * Participal phrases (start with –ing verbs) EX: Conquering his fear, Sheldon ended up loving the blue jay he’d once dreaded.

11. * Adverb clauses start with subordinating conjunctions (before, after, while, since, until, because, although, even though, if, when, so that, etc.) * If an adverb clause is at the beginning of the sentence, it should be followed by a comma. EX: When Rick was bored, he began spying on his neighbors. * If an adverb clause is in the middle of the sentence, no comma is needed. EX: Kate decided not to ask what her husband thought because what he thought was usually a long, rambling conspiracy theory.

12. * When we use THAT no comma is needed EX: I like the episode that features Jake and Terry trying to keep Terry’s wife’s pregnancy a secret. * When we use WHICH a comma is needed EX: Geena’s character used to annoy me, which is weird since now she cracks me up.

13. * Ever since the first season I kind of miss the weird romance between Boyle and Diaz, which they’ve now dropped completely. * Several weeks ago, my husband made me rewatch the scene with the Captain not wearing any pants at his desk five times, because he thought it was so hysterical. * The Pontiac Bandit was an exceptionally good villain while being oh-so-likeable. * I hate episodes, that feature the Captains’ husband because I think he’s just plain mean.